THEATRE 101: ‘Team Xerox’ triumphs again

She is referred to as “Team Xerox” by her admirers, myself being one of many. Amber Wallace can simply look at an image and copy it exactly or, if you like, enlarge it 100 to 1,000 times larger.

She has done the latter with the color drawings of comedy and tragedy designed by Charlotte Davis, wife of the director of this year’s Shakespeare production, Chris Davis. Huge motley colored masks now serve as portals for characters to enter and exit the Mardi Gras-themed set for William Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure.”

Amber came in after one Saturday School of the Arts rehearsal for Disney’s “The Aristocats Kids” and before a performance of “Honky Tonk Angels.” In that short period of time, with creative expertise and skill, she was able to recreate two huge comedy and tragedy mask doorways and also a scene drop of London chimney tops for our upcoming “Mary Poppins.” And her pay? A few zebra cakes and her longtime affection for the Roxy.

“Measure for Measure” is one of Shakespeare’s lesser produced comedies, albeit a dark one. The balance between justice and mercy is central to the plot. This same principle rings true as the theme expounded in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice,” “To do a great right, do a little wrong.” The play’s title alludes to the biblical passage Matthew 7:1-2: “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.”

Behind the motley colored streamers thinly veiled by a cyclorama made for our first production, “Mack and Mabel,” back in 1983 – and still serving us well after 32 years – conceals the Banks family’s home, which is slowly but accurately being painted.

The few feet which this space offers is chaos. Trying to step over everything to get to something, past a ladder, under a drop and over a platform, slows each and every project to a snail’s pace. Oh, for a new building with a proper scene shop and a rehearsal hall! Please, and soon.

William Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” opens Friday at 8 p.m. And to make Shakespeare even more accessible, all tickets are $15.

The Old-Time Fiddlers 41st Annual Tennessee State Championships, presented by the Hilldale Civitan Club, is this Friday and Saturday at Rossview High School. What a great weekend! Two cultural gems, a festival of Shakespeare and music, provide yet another reason to spend a weekend here in Tennessee’s Top Spot!